Options robbed

When robbers held up a check-cashing company at Swift and Co.’s meatpacking plant in east Greeley, they forced hundreds of employees to find other ways to cash their paychecks.

Ideal Services Corp. of Evans used to cash several hundred paychecks for employees at the plant. After the February robbery, Swift officials asked the company not to return.

Employees who used the service now use check-cashing companies, grocery stores and banks in the community where they may have to pay higher charges and provide several forms of identification.

Swift employee Virginia Linares said the check-cashing service at the plant was convenient for her, but not a necessity.

However, other employees, who live check to check, depended on the service to buy food or pay rent, Linares said.

If employees work the night shift at Swift, they get paid at midnight Thursdays.

Ideal Services would cash their checks in Swift’s cafeteria, and the employees would use the money to buy dinner or make phone calls.

“When you get off work, you can’t go to the bank,” said Linares, who works evenings. “They depend on it for lunch, for rent or whatever else they need for that day.”

Like Linares, many employees at the plant are Mexican nationals and do not have bank accounts.

Several places will cash their checks, but the service isn’t free.

Bank One issues Swift’s checks and employees can cash them at the bank for $3, providing they have two forms of identification that match the address on their check.

Many check-cashing companies, such as Check Xchange, 1605 9th St., have reported an increase in business since the robbery.

Check Xchange requires one form of identification and charges customers 1.75 percent of the total check amount, which is lower than the 2 percent that Ideal Services was charging.

After the robbery, Jim Boyd, owner of Check Xchange, had employees go to the plant and hand out brochures and cards, advertising his business.

“We were hoping for a bigger increase than we have seen,” Boyd said. “I guarantee wherever they are going, they are getting charged more than we would charge them.”

At Mister Money USA, 1525 8th Ave., business has increased about 5 percent since the robbery, said manager Tony Hernandez. The company charges customers 3 percent of their checks and requires a state-issued valid ID, Social Security number and a stamp of the right index finger.

Other companies, such as OK Check Cashing, 906 10th St., will cash Swift employees checks with their employee ID.

Mexican nationals can avoid charges by getting a bank account. Several banks in Weld County, including Wells Fargo, will open accounts for Mexican nationals with an ID issued by the Mexican Consulate in Denver.

Jose Arevalo decided to open a bank account with Bank One after learning that Ideal Services would charge him about $5 to cash his check at Swift.

Officials at Swift said they will not allow check-cashing companies to return to the plant.

The practice of cashing checks on company property was initiated when the company was owned by ConAgra and was going to be discontinued anyway, said Jim Herlihy, spokesman for Swift and Co.

“This was an informal practice, not a company function,” he said. “We do not have armed guards on our premises, and we are not staffed to handle security.”

That’s bad news for Tyler Richardson, part-owner and director of business development for Ideal Services.

He had hoped to continue cashing checks at the plant to make up for losses from the $107,000 robbery. His company cashes checks at 500 businesses along the Front Range but no longer in Greeley.

The robbery is still under investigation. Police have followed several leads but have made no arrests, said Sgt. John Gates, spokesman with the Greeley Police Department.

Richardson is still in negotiations with his insurance company to recover the money.

“It isn’t conclusive as of this point if we are going to be covered by insurance,” he said. “In today’s economy, it hurts. We could make it up if we could cash checks, but we lost business, and we got robbed.”

Now that Swift and Co. employees can no longer cash their paychecks at the east Greeley plant, they have had to explore other options.

– King Soopers will cash paychecks with a state-issued ID and Social Security number. The cost is $2 for every $100.

– Check-cashing companies will cash checks, but requirements vary. Some only need an employee ID. Others require two forms of ID and a Social Security number.

– Bank One issues Swift’s checks and will cash them for people without accounts if they have two IDs. The cost is $3.

– Several banks in Weld County will allow Mexican nationals to open a bank account with an ID that is issued by the Mexican Consulate.